This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

[DMiller]

Spoke to a local wrench on this awhile back, he gets calls from JD here as they cannot cover all the client needs as to when a machine is due or ramping into severely overdue on service and gets the sub work.

 

[Mike L]

I’ve got an independent mechanic friend that was fired from Deere for doing side work. He started his own business and within a year he was helping with their overflow and then had his job offered back to him at an impressive amount of money. He declined. When I first got to Texas I struck a deal with a local dealer to sub for them and they give my name to customers on equipment they don’t want to work on but generally they keep me at their shop and out of sight which is fair enough and so far it’s worked for all parties included.

 

[DMiller]

Odd you mention Side work firing, happened here as well where they cannot hire back as will not go back either. And still work on same equipment. Most shops around here cannot get as much as applicants, let alone a new tech.

 

[Mike L]

The dealer I used to work for had a no side work rule if it was anything they would work on but they didn’t turn away much of anything. Giant space heaters, some dudes riding lawnmower, etc. they also had gps put in the service trucks after a field tech ran over a fire hydrant in the company truck on a Sunday headed to a side job.

 

[cfherrman]

If there is a no side work clause, they need to pay you a lot more money for that.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Better be guaranteeing a solid 40 or some overtime if that is the way the employee wants it, too.

 

[Mike L]

If there is a no side work clause, they need to pay you a lot more money for that.

We never signed anything but the service manager made it very clear. Didn’t matter. We got run so hard at times that I was on overtime by lunch on Wednesday and wanted nothing to do with wrenching come Saturday.

 

[Welder Dave]

What happens if you get injured on a side job? I can see why a dealership or large shop would frown on bigger side jobs. If they are providing full time employment with benefits and a side job(s) interferes with your job with them is a legitimate concern. As far as getting injured I think if at all possible a person would try to claim it happened at their reg. job so they could collect workers comp. Little side jobs there's not much an employer can do to stop them.

 

[cfherrman]

Doesn't matter if you want to or not, if they are telling you what you cannot do during your time when you are not at work, you need to be compensated for it.

 

[thepumpguysc]

Dave, THATS EXACTLY what happened at the place I worked at.
The guy was doing side work and jumped off a truck and injured his knee.. then took a “slip and fall” at work..
He milked that for EVERYTHING it was worth.. even had surgery and ended up sueing them for 10K.!!
AND kept his job.!!
I knew the owner of the biz where he got hurt..& one day he comes in and asks, where’s David.??
I said he’s out on account of his knee..
The guy laughs and said, he’s STILL milking that.?? U know he did that at MY PLACE jumping off a truck,. don’tcha.?? I said, yep..

 

[Nige]

Everywhere I've ever been around it wasn't necessarily a case of no side work (it was known as a "foreigner" where I came from) outside of normal working hours but more of a case of "no use of company resources for side work". So no use of service truck, no use of company tooling, etc, etc.

 

[DMiller]

Everywhere I've ever been around it wasn't necessarily a case of no side work outside normal owrking hours but more of a case of "no use of company resources for side work". So no use of service truck, no use of company tooling, etc, etc.

That was where I was at in the early 80s. Boss at garage I worked made note NOT to take his accounts but anything else was open on My Time using My tooling.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Dave, THATS EXACTLY what happened at the place I worked at.
The guy was doing side work and jumped off a truck and injured his knee.. then took a “slip and fall” at work..
He milked that for EVERYTHING it was worth.. even had surgery and ended up sueing them for 10K.!!
AND kept his job.!!
I knew the owner of the biz where he got hurt..& one day he comes in and asks, where’s David.??
I said he’s out on account of his knee..
The guy laughs and said, he’s STILL milking that.?? U know he did that at MY PLACE jumping off a truck,. don’tcha.?? I said, yep..

That happened at a place I worked except the little boss spied it and nipped it in the bud. Guy came in to work hobbling one morning but trying to hide it, grabbed his papers and was out to the truck to begin his day. But the little boss said wait a minute, something not right you can't work like that, go home. He did it working on his own house at home. Sent him home and the company did not have to pay, he had seen that play out before. So it is not just side work that can result in this sort of thing, are you going to forbid someone fixing their own house?

 

[cfherrman]

There's a bunch of work comp scams out there, no side won't eliminate them. Treating you help like family will.

 

[kshansen]

Everywhere I've ever been around it wasn't necessarily a case of no side work (it was known as a "foreigner" where I came from) outside of normal working hours but more of a case of "no use of company resources for side work". So no use of service truck, no use of company tooling, etc, etc.

Yea. a guy who worked for several years in the shop as a welder where I worked. For reasons not important to this discussion lost his job there then a couple years latter did get hired by the local Cat dealer as welder who also did much of their line-bore repair work.

That worked out fine till someone found out he was working weekends doing line-bore work and using the Cat dealer tools to do it. Last I knew he was running a chicken bar-b-que next to his house and doing pretty good with that!

 

[suladas]

To me it's none of their business what you do on your own time provided you aren't using their truck, tools or connections to get the work.

But someone complaining about getting fired for doing side work using a company service truck has a screw loose. It's stealing from the company, no other way to put it. Their truck, tools, fuel, insurance, all the downside if something goes wrong and no upside of any money. What happens if they screw up a repair? Customer will come sue the company if their name was on the door of the truck, even if they had nothing to do with it.

 

[Vetech63]

Well, I'm taking the rest of this week off. I may pop in providing I have cell service where I'm going. I'm going to sleep for the first 2 days, after that I'm going to play with the wife.........ok, I'm going to TRY and play with the wife. She keeps telling me she is too old for shenanigans, but sometimes she lies LOL I better pack some dominoes, cards, and a crossword book just in case! I'll be back with many stories (fibs) of my great adventure 3 hours from home. Wish me luck!

 

[ianjoub]

good luck!

 

[DMiller]

Likely get more sleep than anything!!!

 

[Mike L]

I forgot my phone yesterday when we went fishing for a few hours. Didn’t even know what time it was. It was wonderful to be disconnected. I gotta remember to forget it more often. Have fun!